QBP, Surly, Civia, and at least one of the other brands is based in Minnesota. Several of the pictures on the Surly and Civia website were taken in places I recognize. I'd almost guarantee that several members of the Civia and Surly staffs know each other.

QBP refers to them as independent business units which means they are part of the same company. Having once worked in a large company that had several "business units", I can tell you that the cultures between them can be very different and sometimes one business unit will see and treat another one as a competitor.

I don't know if in the BD world there's a Dawes and a Motobecane business unit or if it's really just different component configurations and different paint.